Today, I finished cleaning up my plot and getting it ready for the winter. The only thing left to do is to take out the flowers and divide the asparagus (or leave the latter for early spring next year). I still have Swiss Chard, leeks, fall greens, carrots, parsley and flowers growing. I spread salt marsh hay on the garlic patch and around the chard and leeks. It has been in the 70s today, and we have not had a frost yet this year.
We are having an unseasonably warm November. 75 degrees today (November 5) and the same is forecasted for tomorrow. The trees have almost lost all their leaves yet here we are enjoying the sun in our tank tops. I am behind with clearing my plot and I have not planted my garlic yet. Today, I cleaned almost half of my plot and will do more work tomorrow. Trying to get the garlic in tomorrow as well.
Yesterday, I cleaned up my back porch to get it ready for the winter. I covered the table and chairs, pulled most of the plants (the only things still producing are the Swiss Chard and the herbs) and moved containers away from the railings for protection from the elements. We are still promised a few warm days (upper 60s) this week, and I will enjoy sitting on my South-facing bench as much as possible until the first frost will force me inside for good. I also planted about 150 tulip bulbs, both in containers and in the front and back yard. I planted Little Princess Botanical tulips on my back porch, and the following tulips in the front yard: Queen of the Night combined with Apricot Parrot, and Purple Prince combined with Orange Brilliant Fosteriana plus more Princess Botanical. In the back yard and in the herb garden and the little side bed along the back porch, I planted Mixed Triumph Tulips. All bulbs are from Holland Bulb Farms. I am looking forward to a lot of color next spring.
Bad news. The rodents got ALL the King Philip corn. Even the ears that were not quite ripe. I was too late. They also started feasting on the glass gem corn, so I harvested four bigger ears this morning, even though it is still a couple of weeks early. Lots of things still growing in the garden. I still have plenty of green beans. The carrots are coming in nicely, I thinned them a few days ago. Fall greens are looking good. The winter squash less so; there are only a few fruit on the vines and those are not very big.
I still have so many flowers and the green beans are still going strong. The tomatoes are winding down now; these five are Scotia (3), a super productive plant, and Black Prince (2).
So much for King Philip corn being more rodent resistant :(. I still have a few ears growing. The mice/rats only ate ears with partially exposed kernels. I hope they will leave the other ones alone. The glass gem corn is (still) untouched. Fingers crossed.
My corn is not yet ready for harvest but I am very excited about the King Philip corn I planted this year. It is a historic Wampanoag flint corn native to New England (named after the Wampanoag chief Metacom who adopted the name King Philip) and has copper-colored, reddish kernels. Flint corn has a hard outer layer around each kernel (protecting it from rodents) and is mostly used for coarse corn meal. It can also be dried and used for popcorn. In addition to King Philip corn, I grew glass gem corn again this year. While mostly used for decoration, glass gem corn can also be ground into meal or popped for snacking.
My Kentucky Wonder green beans have been taking off. I love having beans this late in the season. They grow slower now that the days are shorter and cooler meaning that I can harvest more at the same time (as opposed to a handful every day in the height of summer, which I find less useful in terms of using them to cook). The flowers also are finally in a really good place, which makes me happy as I now will have flowers until the first frost. This is the perk of getting a late start this season, ha! (The beans were planted in mid-July. On purpose.)
